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  • Network Infrastructure – Embracing disruption through innovation

    Network Infrastructure – Embracing disruption through innovation

    There are few critical junctures where industry changes its course, transforms, and readies itself for future growth. Such junctures often coincide with technology disruptions, followed by a long period of organic adoption. In this post, we will look at key disruptions that are steadily metamorphosing the telecommunications industry in modernizing their network infrastructure.

    The Virtualization Chasm

    Nearly a decade ago, industry initiatives spawned the promising technologies Software Defined Networks (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV). These technologies enable software-driven management of networks from the core networks to aggregation to access networks. The network workloads no longer reside on OEM-supplied proprietary hardware. Instead, they are packaged into virtual network functions (VNFs) and hosted on virtual environments. Over time, the virtualization concept has taken different shapes and slowly adapted to market needs. As in any technology adoption cycle, SDN/NFV adoption has encountered a “chasm” towards achieving a wider reach. The chasm, in this case, is due to transformation challenges, unproven success stories, internal system & process challenges, business prioritization, etc.

    The chasm, however, hasn’t stopped a majority of Telcos from adopting the virtualization principles to meet their current needs. One of the key developments that happened during the last decade is the virtualization of “low-hanging” network workloads such as firewalls, OSS/BSS systems, DNS, DHCP, IMS, etc. Telcos started adopting “private clouds,” i.e., virtualization infrastructure, and started hosting network workloads (VNFs) in virtual machines. This has given the Telcos a tremendous ability to optimize costs, control security policies, and scale up/down the infrastructure on a need basis.

    While a few operators have started working on agile, software-controlled, and service orchestration platforms, wider adoption still has a ways to go. The challenges of handling both physical network functions (PNF) and virtual network functions (VNFs) in the same platform, with the additional complexity of interfacing with legacy networks, persist. This is where a collaborative partnership with vendors like Subex, could bring in the expertise that enriches such transformation programs.

    Cloud Next

    Let’s move from network workloads to the non-network application infrastructure. The recent news of Microsoft’s $2 bn cloud deal with AT&T has created quite a stir in the telecom world. The move from AT&T to migrate all non-network OSS/BSS workloads to public clouds will usher in hyperscale cloud benefits such as lower TCO, higher agility, faster time to market, and scalability. We expect few major Telcos also to follow suit in the near term. But here is the interesting statistic from the TMForum study: only a minor segment of players is either already on the public cloud or ready to migrate OSS/BSS onto the public cloud. As expected, a large percentage of operators are either cautious or have decided not to move to the public cloud.

    Will the vendors start supporting cloud-native architectures immediately? The answer is yes, and no. There is a small set of vendors like Subex who are already on this path and will be able to support Operators in their quest towards a cloud-first strategy. At the same time, there is a more significant number of vendors who rely on the “lift and shift” strategy in near to medium term and look forward to making their offerings truly cloud-native in the longer run. This is an interesting development to watch out for.

    Open RAN

    A few years ago, the big OEMs introduced single RAN or proprietary vRAN products to market, which failed to catch the true spirit of open interfacing that Telcos were looking for. This motivated a few startups to work collaboratively on a novel idea – to run their products on commodity servers, enable software control via open interfacing protocols, and make seamless future upgrades just by pushing software patches. The outcome of this exercise is the Open RAN disaggregated networking model from the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) forum. The primary goal is to optimize the huge Capex / Opex that goes into building RAN networks in brownfield environments. Moving from access towards virtualization of aggregation and core networks, service orchestration, workload containerization, and zero-touch provisioning is slowly becoming a reality and is one of the key areas of interest for technology teams in Telcos.

    Exciting times

    Over the last decade, network infrastructure has indeed been disrupted. The trend has accelerated in the last few years with the adoption of SDN WAN, NFVi infrastructure, public cloud, Open RAN, etc. Network managers will need to make technology transformation decisions based on key factors like network agility, scalable architecture, faster time to market, superior customer experience, adaptive operations, Capex/Opex reduction, and simply being future-ready. The industry ecosystem is already witnessing the green shoots of virtualization and cloud transition. It’s an exciting time to be part of this development.

    Explore more about Network Infrastructure solution of Subex.

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  • Telecom Partner Assurance through Converged Partner Management

    Telecom Partner Assurance through Converged Partner Management

    The telecommunication industry has undergone a tremendous amount of change. From offering basic communication services to people, it has now an array of digital services along with basic voice and SMS service. The B2C or retail segment has seen a surge in telecom partnerships from both telecom and non-telecom domain as the data consumption is increasing multifold. There are content aggregators, content producers, partners from media & entertainment, fitness industry, financial, healthcare and many more. The B2B partnerships are also growing as 5G takes the center stage in the developed regions. Experts estimate around 31 billion IoT connected devices by the end of 2020. There will be more enterprise partners from other industry verticals.

    As the number of partners for a telecom operator increases, it becomes more crucial to keep transparency across the partner ecosystem. Doing timely billings and settlements become a difficult task with so many partners to manage. And ensuring an error-free process becomes more challenging given the variety of partners from multi-industry verticals.

    What is the Need of the Hour?

    For a healthy partnership, the transactions must be accurately managed, rated, and settled. Delays in the settlement process are one of the biggest concerns for Telcos and its partners. Wrong invoices and mismatch of information can lead to disputes, blocked revenue, and inefficient partnerships. Also, manually managing invoices from so many partners to identify discrepancies, raising disputes, and concluding the same can be very heavy on the OPEX.

    Partner Assurance for Successful Partnerships

    Partner Assurance allows telecom operators to have a transparent partner ecosystem with efficient billing and settlements. Partner Assurance feature of Subex ROC Partner Management solution offers a complete automated process to ingest invoices, reconciling, highlighting discrepancies and automatically raise disputes. It has a template-based ingestion process of invoices directly from emails or FTP locations. You can configure threshold values for Rate and Volume discrepancies hence automatically convert qualified discrepancies to disputes.

    What benefits it can deliver

    • Zero-touch invoice reconciliation to identify and manage billing disputes.
    • Allow wholesale fraud mitigation such as shortstops and smart FAS using near real-time communication and gather evidence to have a transparent relationship.
    • Ensure transparency and trust through reports, alerts & notification
    • Long term successful partnerships

    How the Power of 5G will Redefine Partner Management

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  • Estado de la red y un agradecimiento a los héroes de la red

    Estado de la red y un agradecimiento a los héroes de la red

    En mi casa se exhibe un teléfono de pared Kellogg de 1926. No puedo usarlo para hacer una llamada, pero se ve muy bien. Está hecho de roble bellamente acabado con un auricular de vela y una pequeña plataforma para tomar notas. Todavía tiene los componentes internos originales, que incluyen un magneto y baterías de celda seca. El teléfono antiguo me conecta con un orgulloso linaje de ingenieros, técnicos, personal de campo, personal de servicio al cliente y profesionales de redes (entre muchos otros) que han construido esta industria. He trabajado en telecomunicaciones durante toda mi carrera y me ha impresionado la respuesta de los operadores de todo el mundo a la situación actual.

    Si bien muchas empresas de servicios han despedido trabajadores y están luchando por sobrevivir, otros sectores están teniendo mejores resultados. Los servicios de transmisión como Netflix y los minoristas en línea como Amazon y Walmart están experimentando un aumento de la demanda. Todos estamos familiarizados con el ascenso de Zoom de un proveedor de videoconferencia empresarial a una sensación de redes sociales.

    ¿Qué tienen en común cada uno de estos servicios en línea? Dependen, por supuesto, de servicios de comunicaciones ubicuos, confiables y relativamente baratos. Nuestros dispositivos digitales nos conectan con las personas que nos importan, nos mantienen entretenidos y permiten que muchos continúen su educación. Los servicios de comunicaciones han permitido lo nuevo “normal”: lavar la ropa, vigilar a los niños, acariciar a una mascota, terminar una comida … ¡todo mientras se une a una llamada de conferencia! Quizás nunca nos hemos apoyado tanto en las redes de comunicaciones globales. Y por extensión, nunca hemos sido tan dependientes de las personas que construyen y operan estas redes.

    Sin embargo, tanto las redes como los proveedores de servicios de comunicación (CSP) están bajo estrés. Las redes centrales son bastante resistentes y tienden a ser diseñadas de manera robusta con la capacidad de acomodar sobretensiones sostenidas en la demanda. Las redes de frontera, por otro lado, particularmente donde hay una planta de cobre y coaxial heredados, a menudo se están ejecutando sobrecargadas. Sin duda, esto está llevando a la frustración entre muchos como sus flujos de paquetes de Tiger King. Las redes inalámbricas han visto cambios en los patrones de uso y la localidad del suscriptor, aumentos de dos dígitos en el tráfico peak y cierta erosión en las velocidades promedio de datos en muchas regiones. En términos generales, los operadores móviles han estado manejando la carga de trabajo sin impactos significativos en la experiencia del cliente. Esto es un testimonio no solo de una buena planificación, sino también del trabajo continuo de los profesionales de la red que monitorean y optimizan continuamente el rendimiento de la red.

    Desde el punto de vista comercial para los CSP, ha sido una mezcla. La demanda de servicios al consumidor se mantiene relativamente estable. Sin embargo, el clima económico general conducirá a una erosión de los ingresos por servicios empresariales. Antes de la crisis, Analysys Mason proyectaba un modesto aumento de 0.7% en los ingresos de telecomunicaciones. Su pronóstico revisado predice una disminución del 3.4% en los mercados desarrollados en 2020. A pesar de esto, los operadores están agregando trabajadores a sus listas para manejar los servicios de primera línea y están aumentando los salarios de los trabajadores esenciales en algunas situaciones. Los CSP se están intensificando en muchos casos para ofrecer planes de pago diferido, mayores límites de datos y contribuciones a diversas causas benéficas.

    Como se cita en el Financial Times, Hans Vestberg, el CEO de Verizon, dijo, “el personal que ha seguido trabajando en el campo para apoyar a los clientes, ya sean ingenieros o trabajadores de tiendas, merece crédito. Esos son los héroes.

    No podría estar más de acuerdo. Ciertamente, todos debemos una gran dosis de gratitud a los trabajadores de primera línea que están dotando de personal a las instalaciones de atención médica, entregando comestibles y cuidando la seguridad pública (entre tantos otros servicios esenciales).

    Al mismo tiempo, los trabajadores de primera línea en la industria de las comunicaciones continúan siendo enviados a las ubicaciones de los clientes (¡usando PPE!), Ingresan a las bocas de acceso, suben a las torres y atienden a los pocos puntos de venta que están abiertos. Detrás de ellos hay profesionales de la red que están dotando de personal a los NOC, data centers y centros de comando para proporcionar soporte a las operaciones críticas. Son tan esenciales que los CSP en India están haciendo arreglos de vivienda temporal para ellos cerca de las instalaciones de telecomunicaciones. Sin duda, tales adaptaciones se están haciendo en todo el mundo, con los trabajadores de comunicaciones a la altura del desafío de mantener en funcionamiento las redes globales.

    ¡Así que aquí hay un agradecimiento a los Heroes de la Red!

    Para comprender los desafíos que enfrentan los CSP para ofrecer contenido de video de calidad a través de dispositivos móviles

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  • The Digitalization Wave – How is it revolutionizing the Telecom Industry

    The Digitalization Wave – How is it revolutionizing the Telecom Industry

    A change can be a blessing in a disguise. Or change can bring in a lot of complications.

    It’s all a matter of perspective.

    Probably the most critical question that telcos should ask themselves in this age and time is how to perceive this change; Digitalization, a not so old term, that has seen itself float around a lot of modern verticals is here to stay. Perhaps one of the most impacted vertical on this front is the telecommunication industry. Digitalization is the key that unlocks a world full of possibilities for telcos. But is it all fun and play? Does this incur more costs and responsibilities?

    Defining Digitalization

    There are multiple ways in which one can define this rather interesting term. Perhaps the most straightforward way to absorb it is to understand that business processes and models are yet to reach their fullest potential without the involvement of digital technologies. When a telco fully embraces and leverages these digital technologies into their day to day processes, they are said to undergo a process of digitalization. Not only do these open new doors of opportunity, but operators can also realize revenue from new lines of businesses. But what is it precisely that operators can expect from this change?

    Digital transformation: What’s on the table?

    The core services – SMS, voice, and data are drastically evaporating along with revenue associated with these services. Networks are becoming increasingly complex, so are the services delivered by them. Consumers are looking out for network systems that can upscale to offer a better quality of service (QOS) and cater to digital offerings. It is trends like these that probably make people perceive it as a threat. Let’s further deep dive into what other offers are on the table:

    1. Virtualized communications and cloud infrastructure

    Traditional OSS network components will soon take a hit thanks to the explosion of data traffic that is being carried across the globe today. The challenge also lies in the fact that maintaining these components also becomes a complicated activity when dealing with data of such enormous proportions while simultaneously trying to provide quality services to customers. Virtualized communications and a cloud-based deployment makes it easier for telcos to manage traffic without burning too much of a hole in their pockets.

    2.5G

    Addressing the elephant in the room, 5G will completely revolutionize the customer experience. Apart from this, 5G will connect things, vastly expanding the capabilities and application of IoT, which demands better and faster connectivity. This opens up an opportunity for around the internet of things, artificial intelligence & augmented reality.

    3. Diverse portfolio of digital services

    Telcos must learn how to expand their service portfolios to offer new suites of digital services, addressing new vertical markets, with strong revenue growth potential. They must also determine which service niches best suit their competencies, and ultimately transform their operations to manage these diverse service portfolios while minimizing operational complexity efficiently.

    4. Redefining customer engagement

    A series of accelerated technological advances have transformed customer expectations in the digital era. A few of these include

    • Payment options that are rather easy to use
    • Transparency to consumers in terms of features of a product or service
    • Contextualized interaction for their personal wants and needs

    5. Internet of things:

    IoT will generate tremendous amounts of data, particularly unstructured in nature. Big data will be a key enabler to absorb this data into some useful insights. An operator strategy to embrace this would be to simplify IoT as much as possible and accelerate its adoption in major verticals such as telecom, healthcare, energy, and connected cities. From a threat perspective, IoT brings in a whole spectrum of fraud use cases that might not be detected by a traditional CDR based fraud management system. OPCO’s must also look into systems that can tap into data packets, analyze and report if the content is malicious or not.

    Embracing digitalization: Help it help you.

    To meet the changing needs of the marketspace, service providers must chart out a few initiatives to be able to accommodate the changes above. Revamping business processes may be a challenge at the early stages, but operators must take the leap to make the most of this transformation. Below are some steps telcos can take to leverage the full capability of digitalization.

    • Define your vision

    Before telcos can start implementing changes in processes, it is imperative to understand what is the end goal that they are trying to achieve. Whether it is a seamless customer experience or launching a new off the shelf product, keeping an eye on the bull at every stage of this change will streamline how the results will pan out.

    • Assess your digital maturity

    Knowing where you stand is another important step to deliver your vision planned out for your subscriber base. Operators can assess their current digital maturity level with respect to industry standards using consulting vendors or other forums. This assessment must be spread across governance, risk, and compliance and operational efficiency so that telcos can decide if they can deliver the originally planned vision with their current maturity level or if it requires specific tweaks.

    • Transformation Gap

    Identify the gaps between where you are today and your desired digital maturity. Pinpoint the areas for improvement as that will have the most significant impact on reaching your business goals.

    • Know your customers

    The strategy needs to have a deep, comprehensive understanding of each customer in a much broader context; A 360° view. Deliver portfolios & digital products that provide your customers with true value because they are the ultimate end users of your product/service. While working on new designs/processes, always start from the customer and work your way backward to ensure that your delivery is aligned with their expectations.

    • Reframe thoughts on data

    As operators, you have access to an enormous amount of customer data. Hence telcos must leverage this data and analytics to implement a digital transformation strategy. Agile platforms and approaches are needed to respond to the continually evolving needs of your customers. The key drivers include building/outsourcing a better visualization layer, having a robust IT system in place, streamlining the application landscape, and innovating around customer experience.

    In addition to the above points mentioned, it is also equally important for telcos to have the right partners in their digital transformation journey to manage the plethora of risks arising from digitalization.

    To know how Subex can help you in your Digital transformation journey

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  • State of the Network and a Shout-Out to Network Heroes

    State of the Network and a Shout-Out to Network Heroes

    On display in my house is a 1926 Kellogg wall phone.  I can’t use it to place a call, but it looks great.  It’s crafted from beautifully finished oak with a candlestick earpiece and a small platform for taking notes.  It still has the original internal components, including a magneto and dry cell batteries.  The antique phone connects me to a proud lineage of engineers, technicians, field personnel, customer service staff, and network professionals (among many others) who have built this industry.  I’ve worked in telecom my entire career and have been awed by the response from operators around the globe to the current situation.

    While so many service businesses have shed workers and are fighting for survival, other sectors are faring better.  Streaming services like Netflix and online retailers like Amazon and Walmart are seeing demand surge.  We’re all familiar with the ascension of Zoom from an enterprise video-conferencing provider to a social media sensation.

    What do each of these online services have in common?  They are dependent, of course, on ubiquitous, reliable, and relatively cheap communications services. Our digital devices connect us to the people we care about, summon food, keep us entertained and allow many to continue their education.   Communications services have enabled the new “normal”: Do laundry, watch children, stroke a pet, finish a meal… all while joining a conference call!  We’ve perhaps never leaned so heavily on global communications networks.  And by extension, we’ve never been so dependent on the people building and operating these networks.

    Yet both networks and communication service providers (CSPs) are under stress.  Core networks are quite resilient and tend to be robustly engineered with the capacity to accommodate sustained surges in demand.  Edge networks, on the other hand, particularly where there is a legacy copper plant and coax, are often running hot.  No doubt, this is leading to frustration among many as their streams of Tiger King drop packets.  Wireless networks have seen changes in usage patterns and subscriber locality, double-digit increases in peak traffic, and some erosion in average data speeds in many regions.  Broadly speaking, mobile operators have been handling the workload without significant impacts on customer experience.  This is a testament not just to good planning, but to the ongoing work of network professionals who are monitoring and continually optimizing network performance.

    On the business side for CSPs, it’s been a mixed bag.  Demand for consumer services is holding relatively steady.  However, the overall economic climate will lead to an erosion of business services revenue.  Before the crisis, Analysys Mason was projecting a modest 0.7% increase in telecoms revenue.  Their revised forecast predicts a 3.4% decline across developed markets in 2020.  Despite this, operators are adding workers to their rolls to handle frontline services and are increasing salaries for essential workers in some situations. CSPs are stepping up in many cases to offer deferred payment plans, increased data caps, and contributions to various charitable causes.

    As quoted in the Financial Times, Hans Vestberg, the CEO of Verizon, said, “staff who have continued to work in the field to support customers — be they engineers or shopworkers — deserve credit. Those are the heroes.”

    I could not agree more.  Certainly, we all owe a big dose of gratitude to the frontline workers who are staffing health care facilities, delivering groceries, and looking after public safety (among so many other essential services).

    At the same time, frontline workers in the communications industry continue to be dispatched to customer locations (wearing PPE!), enter manholes, climb towers, and staff the few retail outlets that are open.  Behind them are network professionals who are staffing NOCs, data centers, and war rooms to provide critical operations support.  They are so essential that CSPs in India are making temporary living arrangements for them near telco facilities. No doubt, such accommodations are being made worldwide, with communications workers rising to the challenge of keeping global networks running.

    So here’s a shout-out to the Network Heroes!

    To understand the challenges faced by CSPs in offering quality video content over mobile devices

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  • D-Partner unchained with Blockchain in the 5G era

    D-Partner unchained with Blockchain in the 5G era

    If you have to identify the most important element of the telecom ecosystem in the 5G era that can fuel multi-fold growth for operators, what it is going to be? If you ask for my answer, it’s D-Partner (The Partner).  Let me explain how the partner will play an important role in setting up a successful 5G ecosystem.  I will cover two aspects here:

    1. Why and how partnerships can only fuel success in 5G?

    2. Blockchain – How it brings digital trust in data exchanged between partners?

    The Potential that 5G holds

    5G ecosystem will give rise to a big parallel ecosystem of partnerships. A successful rollout of 5G will need collaboration between many partners who will fulfill different gaps in the ecosystem and eventually deliver the 5G promises. As the ecosystem develops, Telcos are expected to focus beyond just connectivity towards collaboration across the telecom value chain and different sectors, leading to the creation of new and innovative business models.

    This is the right time to unchain and unleash the power of partnership and empower the partners to build a strong ecosystem to realize the true potential of 5G.

    Different partners that telco need to collaborate can be broadly classified into below categories:

    1. Suppliers (Infrastructure, Software Vendors, Innovative service providers, etc.)
    2. Aggregators
    3. XVNO*
    4. Sales & Resellers
    5. Enterprise Partners (Enterprises in Healthcare, Smart Cities, Banking, Manufacturing, etc.)

    *XVNO=MVNO, IVNO(IoT-VNO), etc. Anyone can take a Network Slice and run innovative services on it. IoT has a big future on 5G platform and hence IoT-VNO.

    All these partners will build a strong ecosystem to deliver the best result to end consumers, be it in B2C or B2B space. Delivering value will no longer be a play of the centralized entity, instead, this will be a decentralized ecosystem in which delivering value and the trust will be dependent on multiple entities/partners i.e. the trust itself will be decentralized. The below diagram clearly highlights how much decentralization is important going forward.

    Creation of a Trusted Decentralized Ecosystem to Deliver Value

    All these partners will be connected with different economic models to do billing and settlements. In the 5G ecosystem, SLA & QoS based economic models will be the key factor for all the billing and settlements. SLA & QoS is the key factor for 5G to be reliable, which will add a new parameter to the equation of billing and settlement which is currently transactional in nature. The 5G value chain will be dependent on many of these partners playing different roles at different points and all or related ones, are interconnected with cascading SLA’s & QoS.

    Having cascading SLA’s and with its dependency on multiple partners, who will deliver and ones who will consume the same, the need for a transparent & trustworthy environment becomes the key, which can:

    1. Update the SLA’s and delivered QoS to all relevant and impacted touchpoints in ecosystem
    2. Rating the services of each partner based on delivered SLA’s and QoS as agreed in the contract
    3. Compare and alert SLA breach based on the contracts with each partner in ecosystem
    4. Help in addressing disputes in near real-time, hence avoiding conflicts during payments and settlements

    Each of the above points translates to:

    1. Near real-time updates in a connected the ecosystem
    2. Near real-time contract monitoring
    3. Triggered events based on contractual models
    4. And above all, creation of a trustworthy the ecosystem

    Blockchain = Collaboration + Cryptography + Smart Contracts = Decentralized & Trusted Ecosystem

     

    The above diagram depicts how a decentralized setup will look, with multiple partners working towards building a reliable & connected ecosystem delivering the required SLA/QoS.

    For now, I leave you with this thought process and will get back to you on how we can wrap this overall decentralized environment with an E2E Partner Lifecycle Management system and its importance.

    The Decentralized Way Of Digital Partnerships

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  • A través de los ojos de un profesional de redes, cómo lidiar con la tormenta de incertidumbre

    A través de los ojos de un profesional de redes, cómo lidiar con la tormenta de incertidumbre

    El mundo de las telecomunicaciones está lleno de incertidumbre. Es durante estas situaciones de incertidumbre cuando el aumento de la demanda de los clientes y la carga en la red aumenta exponencialmente, el verdadero papel de un profesional de la red entra en juego. Durante estos momentos, cuando la red está bajo tensión, los profesionales de la red deben hacer un gran esfuerzo para garantizar la continuidad del servicio 24 × 7.

    Pero, ¿qué pasa con la “incertidumbre” que podría surgir de una calamidad natural, o interrupciones masivas del sitio, causa estrés en la red?

    En general, una red móvil sufre numerosos cambios. Estos podrían ser cambios planificados como ajuste de parámetros, optimización física, prueba / implementación de nuevas funciones, actualizaciones de software, etc., la mayoría de los cuales están dirigidos a mejorar el rendimiento de la red y la experiencia del usuario final.

    Sin embargo, por otro lado, son los cambios “no planificados” los que tienden a arrojar una llave inglesa al sistema. Estos cambios podrían ser estacionales o debidos a fluctuaciones a nivel del sistema en los elementos de la red que provocan una degradación severa en términos de rendimiento. Si tal incidente ocurriera en la hora más ocupada del día, entonces el impacto también se sentirá en el negocio.

    En ambos casos, planificados o no planificados, la acción para resolver un problema podría estar dirigida a cualquier dominio de una red, por ejemplo, radio, transporte, núcleo, etc. También requeriría la resolución de problemas de extremo a extremo y el análisis de la causa raíz.

    Tradicionalmente, los profesionales de la red manejan el impacto de tales cambios de manera reactiva, lo que a menudo resulta en casos en los que el “tiempo medio para reconocer” (MTTA) y el “tiempo medio para responder” (MTTR) potencialmente toman horas o, en algunos casos, días. De hecho, algunos casos complejos entre dominios pueden incluso quedar sin resolver.

    Sin embargo, a lo largo de los años, gracias a los avances en la automatización, los profesionales de la red han podido evolucionar hacia el manejo proactivo de dichos problemas. Al aprovechar las herramientas integradas con la experiencia en la materia, junto con los métodos estadísticos, los profesionales de la red pueden lograr una reducción significativa en MTTA y MTTR. Sin embargo, este enfoque está lejos de ser perfecto, ya que las acciones necesarias solo se pueden tomar después de que el impacto en la red ya haya ocurrido.

    Para comprender el enfoque correcto que debe adoptarse, demos un paso atrás y profundicemos en la vida de un experto en planificación y optimización de redes involucrado en la gestión del rendimiento diario de la red.

    Convencionalmente, un profesional de la red realiza un análisis del impacto de la red en un conjunto de KPI críticos y toma las medidas necesarias para mejorar el rendimiento de la red. Se invierte mucho esfuerzo en otra ronda de análisis para concluir si la acción tuvo un impacto en cascada en cualquier otro KPI importante o no. Una vez que el impacto de la acción tomada se considera exitoso, el análisis pasa al siguiente conjunto de acciones. Muy a menudo, tales acciones son tomadas por múltiples partes interesadas para mejorar el desempeño de sus respectivas regiones / grupos / sitios.

    En una red 4G, podría haber miles de contadores / KPI y cientos de parámetros, lo que hace que sea casi imposible para un ser humano analizar el impacto de un cambio de un conjunto de parámetros en todos los contadores / KPI relevantes, de extremo a extremo, diariamente. Los servicios como la transmisión de video y VoLTE a menudo requieren un análisis entre dominios para garantizar la continuidad del servicio.

    Es en tales escenarios donde Machine Learning (ML) comienza a surgir como la respuesta para manejar estas complicaciones desde una perspectiva de extremo a extremo.

    Sin embargo, el término “Aprendizaje automático” tiene una forma de introducirse en tales debates. Es, de hecho, casi en su propio detrimento a veces, ya que el aprendizaje automático casi se ve como un trabajo de magia, en el mejor de los casos, o simplemente un truco de marketing, en el peor de los casos. Casi todos lo mencionan en algún momento.

    Entonces, permítame tomarme un momento para defender por qué lo menciono ahora y por qué creo que el análisis avanzado basado en el aprendizaje automático puede resolver significativamente algunos de los problemas críticos que enfrentan los profesionales de la red.

    La respuesta corta de dos palabras sería “Agilidad” y “Precisión”. Permítanme dar más detalles.

    Un CSP puede aprovechar los modelos de ML que capturarán todos los tipos de impactos de red de manera consistente a partir de los datos de red generados en forma de contadores / KPI y parámetros a diario y ayudará a proporcionar información procesable a los profesionales de la red, que de lo contrario pasarían desapercibidos.

    Además, estos conocimientos son especialmente útiles cuando se utilizan en la planificación y gestión de eventos especiales, como la proyección de un evento deportivo mundial. En tal caso, donde se espera que aumente el aumento del tráfico, el modelo aprenderá del desempeño del evento anterior y proporcionará aportes críticos para la planificación del evento.

    Según la misma lógica, los modelos de ML generarán ideas procesables cuando se produzca una crisis y equiparán a los profesionales de la red para hacer frente a cualquier evento anormal que ocurra en tiempos de incertidumbre. Además, al aprovechar los modelos ML, los profesionales de la red pueden estar equipados para ejecutar simulaciones múltiples para realizar con precisión el análisis de impacto de la red para cualquier acción que tengan la intención de realizar en el futuro. Algunos escenarios clave que podrían gestionarse con mayor agilidad en cualquier momento, pero que adquieren una dimensión adicional de importancia durante una situación de “red bajo tensión”, serían:

    • Pronosticar con precisión el tráfico peak, la utilización de recursos y el uso de aplicaciones para planificar con anticipación
    • Optimización y ajuste de los parámetros de red para la expansión de la capacidad y la mejora de la calidad en tiempos de tendencias anormales de la red.
    • Mejora de la experiencia del cliente al realizar una correlación de calidad de experiencia (QoE) con QoS de extremo a extremo para servicios de transmisión como video Full HD.
    • Mantener la continuidad continua del servicio VoLTE de extremo a extremo.

    Como dicen, las situaciones únicas requieren medidas únicas, y durante los momentos en que la red está bajo estrés, los profesionales de la red deben hacer un gran esfuerzo solo para mantener la red a flote. Es un esfuerzo que a menudo pasa desapercibido, pero ayuda a mantener a los clientes conectados y a mantener intacta la reputación de la empresa. Machine Learning puede asumir un papel esencial en la transformación de estos “héroes de la red” en “superhéroes de la red” al equiparlos con poderes de agilidad y precisión mejoradas.

    La verdad es que la industria de las telecomunicaciones se encuentra en un punto de inflexión en el que los responsables de la toma de decisiones deben tomar una decisión sobre las capacidades que deben aportar a la red y cómo pueden equipar a sus héroes de red hoy en día. Estas decisiones críticas tomadas ahora proporcionarán beneficios en los próximos años.

    Para comprender los desafíos que enfrentan los CSP para ofrecer contenido de video de calidad a través de dispositivos móviles

    LEER BLOG

  • How to ride the storm of uncertainty through the eyes of a network professional

    How to ride the storm of uncertainty through the eyes of a network professional

    The telecom world is one that is fraught with uncertainty. It is during such situations of uncertainty when the surge in demand from customers and load on the network increases exponentially, the true role of a network professional comes into the fray. During these moments, when the network is under stress, network professionals need to put in a tremendous effort to ensure 24×7 service continuity.

    But what about ‘uncertainty,’ that might emerge from the likes of a natural calamity, or massive site outages, causes stress on the network?

    Generally, a mobile network undergoes numerous amounts of changes. These could be planned changes like parameter tuning, physical optimization, new feature trial/implementation, SW upgrades, etc., most of which are targeted towards improving the network performance and end-user experience.

    However, on the other side, it is the ‘unplanned’ changes that tend to throw a monkey wrench into the system. These changes could be seasonal or due to system-level fluctuations in network element(s) bringing severe degradation in terms of performance. If such an incident was to happen in the busiest hour of the day, then the impact will be felt in the business as well.

    In both the cases, planned or unplanned, the action to resolve a problem could be targeted towards any domain of a network, e.g., radio, transport, core, etc. It would also require end-to-end troubleshooting and root-cause analysis.

    Traditionally, network professionals manage the impact of such changes reactively, which often results in instances where the ‘mean time to acknowledge’ (MTTA) and ‘mean time to respond’ (MTTR) potentially take hours or, in some cases, days. In fact, some complex cross-domain cases can even remain unresolved.

    Over the years, however, thanks to advancements in automation, network professionals have been able to evolve towards handling such issues proactively. By leveraging tools embedded with subject matter expertise, coupled with statistical methods, network professionals can bring a significant reduction in MTTA and MTTR. However, this approach is far from perfect as necessary action can only be taken after the impact on the network has already occurred.

    To understand the right approach that needs to be taken, let us take a step back and delve into the life of a network planning and optimization expert involved in day-to-day performance management of the network.

    Conventionally, a network professional performs network impact analysis on a set of critical KPIs and takes necessary steps to improve the network performance. A lot of effort is invested towards another round of analysis to conclude if the action had a cascading impact on any other major KPIs or not. Once the impact of the action taken is deemed successful, the analysis moves to the next set of actions. Very often, such actions are taken by multiple stakeholders to improve the performance of their respective regions/clusters/sites.

    In a 4G network, there could be thousands of counters/KPIs and hundreds of parameters, making it almost impossible for a human to analyze the impact of a change of a set of parameters on all relevant counters/KPIs, end-to-end, daily. Services like video streaming and VoLTE often require cross-domain analysis to ensure seamless service continuity.

    It is in such scenarios where Machine Learning (ML) starts cropping up as the answer to handling these complications from an end-to-end perspective.

    However, the term ‘Machine Learning’ does have a way of creeping into such discussions. It is, in fact, almost to its own detriment at times, as machine learning is almost looked at as a work of magic, at best, or just another marketing gimmick, at its worst. Almost everyone brings it up at some point.

    So, let me take a moment to defend why I bring it up now, and why I believe machine learning-driven advanced analytics can significantly solve some of the critical problems faced by network professionals.

    The short two-word answer would be ‘Agility’ and ‘Accuracy.’ Allow me to elaborate.

    A CSP can leverage ML models that will capture all types of network impacts consistently from the network data generated in the form of counters/KPIs and parameters on a daily basis and will help in providing actionable insights to the network professionals, which would otherwise go unnoticed.

    Furthermore, these insights come in especially handy when used in planning and managing special events like the screening of a global sports event. In such an event, where the surge in traffic is expected to rise, the model will learn from the previous event’s performance and will provide critical inputs for event planning.

    By the same logic, ML models will generate actionable insights when a crisis strikes and will equip network professionals to deal with any abnormal events happening in times of uncertainty. Furthermore, by leveraging ML models, network professionals can be equipped to run multiple simulations to accurately perform network impact analysis for any actions they intend to perform in the future. A few key scenarios that could be managed with better agility at any point of time, but take on an additional dimension of importance during a “network under stress” situation, would be:

    • Accurately forecasting the peak traffic, resource utilization, and application usage to plan well in advance
    • Optimizing and fine-tuning network parameters for capacity expansion and quality improvement in times of abnormal network trends
    • Improving customer experience by performing Quality of Experience (QoE) correlation with end to end QoS for streaming services like full HD video.
    • Maintaining seamless end to end VoLTE service continuity.

    As they say, unique situations call for unique measures, and during times when the network is under stress, network professionals need to put a whole lot of effort just to keep the network afloat. It is an effort that often goes unnoticed, but it is one that helps keep customers connected and the company’s reputation intact. Machine Learning can take on an essential role in transforming these ‘network heroes’ into ‘network superheroes’ by equipping them with powers of enhanced agility and accuracy.

    The truth is that the telecom industry is at an inflection point where decision-makers need to take a call on what capabilities they must bring into the network and how they can equip their network heroes today. These critical decisions taken now will provide benefits for years to come.

    To understand the challenges faced by CSPs in offering quality video content over mobile devices

    Read Blog

  • Optimize. Energize. Improvise. Riding the COVID-19 storm

    Optimize. Energize. Improvise. Riding the COVID-19 storm

    The global pandemic, COVID-19, has halted life as we know it. As of writing this, the number of cases has risen to over 2,000,000, at the cost of more than 100,000 lives. Governments across the world have rightly taken steps to ensure social distancing. The global emphasis at the moment needs to focus on containing and mitigating this disease. However, beyond the disruption of day-to-day lives and the unfortunate human toll, the implications on the economy and businesses are as damaging and far-reaching.

    In this situation, organizations need to cope by finding the right balance between assuring the safety of their employees while ensuring the smooth running of their operations. The circumstances beckons for an approach towards demonstrating resilience while being cognizant of external factors that are likely to cause disruption. Here are my thoughts on three key things businesses need to do, in order to deal with the situation, and come out stronger.

    Optimize: 

    Indeed, a global event as this will come with multiple challenges. Still, successful businesses can look at this as a wake-up call to how the business runs and what can be improved. For instance, some of the questions I ask myself today would be:

    • What changes to the business model can be made for the short term? How would this be applied in a post-Covid-19 world?
    • How is my customer behavior changing, and how do I cater to this new customer mindset?
    • How do we find new ways to take our products and services to the customer?

    Optimization for a pandemic has a lot to do with finding a balance between spending money to keep things going and knowing when to pull back. On the one hand, investing in products and services which have a long selling cycle may use up much-needed cash reserves. Leaders will need to assess whether spending or not spending will hamper the business. On the other hand, it also is essential to take stock of what you own already and understanding if it is being utilized effectively. Inventory management will be necessary for businesses across different domains. Many companies, including telecom operators, tend to have money tied into unproductive inventory, which could be liquidated into useful cash.

    Manpower planning is also an essential part during such a situation when everyone is working from home. There can be issues like internet, family commitments that need to be accounted for when your workforce operates from home. How efficiently you can manage help your employees navigate through these challenges while ensuring transparency will define the success of this exercise. Moreover, you can spend this time to invest in your employees by helping them build additional skills that increases productivity and efficiency in the long run

    Energize:

    Energizing the business by improving efficiency to deliver success, despite the hurdles, is what differentiates good companies from great ones. A situation like this demands a level of efficiency which surpasses what would be typically required, considering the adjustments (physical and psychological) which need to be made. The entire workforce is now remotely located, and meetings are virtual. This kind of work environment demands a different level of resilience, commitment, and teamwork to operate smoothly to deliver efficiently.

    Of course, this also demands a balance of perfection and agility, and what I mentioned in an earlier blogpost, takes greater meaning now. Agility has to become the norm, and while it should not be at the cost of perfection, the former needs to take the front seat now.

    Improvise:

    Vince Lombardi, the American football coach famously said, “It is not about whether you get knocked down, it is about whether you get up”, and the quote fits in perfectly with the current scenario. Yes, most businesses seem to have taken the metaphorical punch in the chin, but the ones that will emerge out of this situation are those who planned ahead. This is the time for asking the right questions, a phase of introspection, and an opportunity for validation of age-old processes and practices. There is no doubt that the playing field will be altered drastically post the pandemic, and businesses need to critically look at areas to improvise, in order to succeed in an arena that is not very familiar or even favorable. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that surviving this crisis will not necessarily guarantee thriving in the post-pandemic era, unless businesses have the foresight to improvise their plan of operations for the short term and the long term.

    Silver linings:

    The coronavirus crisis is a story with an unclear and indefinite ending. The pandemic will remain in the annals of history as one of the most tragic and devastating events in the modern era. The impact it has on human lives is catastrophic, but I am hoping that this makes us stronger and wiser when we return back to our normal lives. The same can be said from a business context as well, as the onus lies on leaders to help their companies learn from this crisis and innovate while protecting their employees, addressing business challenges and risks, and helping to mitigate the outbreak in whatever ways they can.

    Until the time we bounce back, please stay safe, and look out for the ‘silver linings’.

  • ¿Cómo luchan los gestores de fraude en la industria de las telecomunicaciones a los estafadores?

    ¿Cómo luchan los gestores de fraude en la industria de las telecomunicaciones a los estafadores?

    Actualmente enfrentamos un brote global de COVID-19 con el consiguiente bloqueo, pánico y miedo en todo el mundo. Hemos seguido con atención los medios de comunicación para mantenernos actualizados sobre la situación. Si bien, de manera muy alentadora, más del 95% de la fuerza laboral ha comenzado a trabajar desde casa con una posible conectividad segura, los estafadores también han estado igualmente activos, buscando oportunidades para atacar a los suscriptores en todo el mundo. En el último mes, ha habido un fuerte aumento en la incidencia de IRSF, llamadas automáticas, estafas por SMS, fraude de ingeniería social, DDoS y ataques cibernéticos.

    Los operadores y los clientes han estado enormemente tensos durante las últimas semanas. Necesitamos estar a la altura de las circunstancias para proteger sus intereses. Según lo vemos desde Subex, se pueden seguir los siguientes pasos para enfrentar los desafíos relacionados con el fraude de las telecomunicaciones:

    • Conciencia del suscriptor: se debe lanzar un programa de concientización del suscriptor de inmediato para que los consumidores desconfíen de los diversos esquemas fraudulentos que surgen durante el período de pánico y miedo. Un caso puntual según lo informado por uno de los operadores asiáticos es que la semana pasada muchos suscriptores que habían instalado las aplicaciones de actualización en vivo COVID-19 en sus teléfonos recaudaron la friolera de $ 0.16 Mn porque no sabían que las aplicaciones también tomarían el estado del teléfono, incluida la función de lectura y escritura de SMS.
    • Priorizar el monitoreo de alertas de fraude: el trabajo remoto tendría sus desafíos. Los equipos de gestión de fraudes deben priorizar las alertas, especialmente las que tendrían un mayor impacto en los suscriptores y actuar en consecuencia y fijarlas en prioridad.
    • Acciones correctivas de causa raíz: la solución ideada para eliminar las causas de la actividad fraudulenta reducirá las probabilidades de su recurrencia. Por ejemplo, en la red, el rango de los números de destino de alto riesgo puede bloquearse por un corto período si se detecta un ataque de fraude IRSF.
    • Comunicación y colaboración: debemos estar conectados digitalmente a todas las partes interesadas para que actúen con dureza en actividades fraudulentas en la red. El SLA con las partes interesadas puede ser refinado y ajustado adecuadamente para una acción más rápida. Este es uno de los elementos clave cuando todo el equipo trabaja de forma remota para respaldar las operaciones diarias.
    • Actualizaciones periódicas sobre los patrones de fraude emergentes / recientes: visite con frecuencia los foros de fraude para estar al tanto de los patrones de fraude emergentes / recientes elaborados por los estafadores. Los delincuentes siempre están atentos a arruinar los procesos y sistemas para fines nefastos. Muchos operadores han informado un aumento en las llamadas automáticas, estafas por SMS y ciberataques durante este período.
    • Realización de la gestión del fraude como parte del Plan de continuidad del negocio (BCP): es muy importante incorporar la gestión del fraude como parte del BCP de manera importante y garantizar que tengamos la máxima cobertura durante este período.

    Según nuestros cálculos, los equipos de gestión de fraudes deberían estar más atentos y ágiles que nunca para enfrentar los nuevos desafíos del fraude de telecomunicaciones que se generalizaron durante este brote global de COVID-19. Los administradores de fraudes son superhéroes cuando se trata de generar confianza con los clientes.

    ¡Manténgase seguro y saludable!

    Para comprender cómo puede detectar y prevenir estafas y llamadas no deseadas utilizando modelos avanzados de aprendizaje automático

    Descargue el Estudio de Caso